Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Architect Edward Mazria, of the Santa Fe, New Mexico firm of Mazria Odems Dzurec, has started a new website, architecture2030.org, which attempts to harness the power architecture to reduce and reverse global warming. "The building sector is responsible for half of all U.S. global warming emissions annually," he says in an open letter posted on the site, "and our emissions are increasing at an alarming rate according to statistics from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. "

To keep global warming under 2 degrees centigrade, he proposes cutting in half the amount of fossil fuel used in construction, to increase to a 90% reduction by 2025 and reach effective zero - the abolition of the use of fossil fuel - by 2030.

The site includes an analysis of the effect of global warming on weather and health, as well as on plants and animals, including coral reefs. It quotes U.S. Energy statistics that buildings consume 48% of all energy, with the balance split between industry and transporation, and highlights over a dozen case studies of projects throughout the world, from Morphosis, Busby + Associates, Gensler, Mazria's own firm and many others, that demonstrate new strategies for energy conservation.

Architecture2030.org has the look of being the product of a one-man band, but a man of enormous industry and impeccible credentials. It includes a wealth of compelling information, creatively presented, that makes a visit more than rewarding.

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. . . writings on architecture have appeared in the Chicago Reader, Metropolis Magazine, the Harvard Design Magazine, and the backs of discarded gum wrappers.
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